Josie used the gate to get to the hospital. Things seemed to be running well in the

public areas. She walked back to the administrative area. She found Massa talking

things over with Madam Harp, and Madam Fass. They smiled when they saw her in

the door.

“I thought I should try to work on one of the women from the lawn,” said Josie. “Jack

took the kids out to fish for the day as planned. I want to see if I can speed up the

process with the spines while I got time to do that.”

“Our nurses are cycling through,” said Massa. “I think we have three rooms on the

second floor that are empty right now.”

“How are you doing?,” asked Josie. She crossed her arms.

“I’m clear of the growths, lost some weight, and feel better in every way,” said

Massa. “Jack’s healing pill even worked on my tumor.”

“We told her she should take another two days, but she won’t do it,” said Madam

Harp. “The nurses that have cleared the treatment did take their days, and will be

rotated back in.”

“All right,” said Josie. “Let me have one of the free rooms, and we’ll grab somebody

from the lawn to start on. I don’t know how long I will have before more quests come

in.”

“What will happen to the hospital if you aren’t here?,” asked Madam Fass.

“It’s Jane’s thing,” said Josie. “It will be up to her, but she has money to keep the

place open for a while. If the country starts paying for help, you guys will be set for

life.”

“I don’t feel set for life,” said Massa. “I feel like we will be training people on how

we do things here until we die.”

“Let’s see if we can help this one woman,” said Josie. “Then we can see what we can

do about clearing off the lawn and trying to get better quarters for everybody.”

“Which one do we use?,” asked Madam Harp.

“Let’s start with the oldest affected,” said Josie. “She’ll be the one trapped with the

goblin seed the longest. If we can get her back on her feet without any noticeable

problem, we can do the same for the next oldest and so forth.”

“One room?,” asked Madam Harp.

“Yep,” said Josie. “I only have today for sure, and might not be able to do anything

tomorrow. Jack is out of town like I said. Once he is back, we’ll have to come up with

a better plan to do things. I would like to get that other building for housing of the

excess victims if nothing else. Jane isn’t going to be able to keep everyone at the

mansion the way we’re expanding.”

“It’s a bit crowded as it is,” said Massa.

“So I am going to grab a couple of adventurers and try to get started before something

else happens,” said Josie. “Things should be fine at the moment.”

“The bill went into the Guild,” said Madam Fass. “Don’t forget to go by and talk to

Sally about that.”

“I’ll do that next,” said Josie. “Let’s see if I can get this to work. Maybe I can do more

than one today.”

“I’ll get a nurse to help you,” said Massa. “Now that some of them have gone through

the treatment, they know how rough it is on a body.”

“Thank you,” said Josie. “If you guys have a problem while I’m here, I’ll be glad to

help out. Also Aviras might be along depending. Just send him to whichever room I

have.”

“I’m sure your dragon will be most welcome,” said Madam Harp.

“Matilda’s dragon,” said Josie automatically. “I don’t like the responsibility animals

incur.”

“But you adopted six girls,” said Madam Harp.

“I don’t know how that happened,” said Josie. “I think it’s one thing I can’t blame on

Jack. Let’s get started.”

The other women smiled as she turned and left the room.

Massa joined her as she walked down the hall to the cafeteria. They walked along in

silence until Josie paused at the door of the hospital eatery. She frowned as her eyes

roved the room. Then she walked to a table where two men sat talking.

“Are you two lazing around again?,” asked Josie.

“Naw, Madam Witch,” said the bald adventurer. “We’ve brought in a granny, and

handed over two thieves to the Watch. We’re about to head out again. Markus is

filling out our paperwork for the pay.”

Markus handed her the report. She examined his scrawl for a minute, piecing together

the letters she could recognize. She handed the paper back.

“Finish the paperwork and hand it in,” said Josie. “You guys are going to be helping

me the next few hours.”

“Are you shooting people with those rocks again,” said the bald adventurer. “They

worked great except for the blood coming out of the holes.”

“I am going to try to wake up one of the women on Jane’s lawn,” said Josie. “Since

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

you are here, you can help out.”

“That doesn’t sound like adventuring,” said the bald adventurer.

Markus shook his head in a silent warning.

“Do you know what you sound like?,” asked Josie.

“Someone with a hole in his leg?,” said the adventurer.

“You are smarter than you look,” said Josie. “Most people don’t take the warning for

what it is.”

“I have been threatened over eight hundred times in my career,” said the adventurer.

He sipped from his cup. “I know one when I hear one.”

“Do you have a problem helping me, Mark?,” asked Josie.

“No, ma’am,” said Markus. “It will be a pleasure to obey any order you may give so

I too can have legs without holes.”

“Why are you adventurers such a sarcastic lot?,” said Josie. “Finish up what you are

doing and meet me at the gate. We have to see which woman we are going to try to

help before I have to do something for my boss.”

“There’s someone in charge of you?,” said the bald adventurer.

“I get jobs just like you,” said Josie. “Someone threatens the land, and I have to talk

to him about his choices. You know how it goes.”

“Aye,” said the adventurer. “We do the same thing on a smaller scale.”

Markus finished his report with a flourish of a signature. He signed the other man’s

signature in blocky letters.

“All we have to do is hand it in,” said the adventurer. He took the papers and started

walking out of the cafeteria. “I’ll do that while you two get ready with this help

thing.”

“How’s the eye?,” asked Josie.

“I took an elixir for it,” said Markus. “You didn’t have to punch me. I would have

done something about it eventually.”

“Baloney,” said Josie. “You would have waited on it to heal on its own to prove your

manliness.”

“I’m not that stupid,” said Markus.

“We’ll see,” said Josie. “Massa, this is Markus. I don’t know the name of his partner.”

“Vin,” said Markus. “His name is Vin.”

“Let’s get on with things,” said Josie. “Vin can catch up with us while we’re doing.”

Josie led the way to the gate. She aimed it at Jane’s House, and stepped through. Her

helpers followed her.

“Let’s see who has been stuck the longest,” said Josie. She called on Zatanna to get

a firebird to show her the right woman to work on. The spell sat on one tent in

particular toward the middle of the pack.

“Massa, you said there were three free rooms on the second floor?,” asked Josie.

“Yes,” said the administrator.

“Markus, go back and tell Vin to meet us on the second floor,” said Josie. “We’re

going to move her, but I think we’re going to need help on the other end.”

“I got it,” said the adventurer. He hustled to the gate and went through.

“All right. Let’s get this woman and see if we can move her to the hospital,” said

Josie. She let Zatanna go so the watch could recharge. She would have to move them

back across town, and then use Doctor Occult to help with the cure.

She might have to leave things with Massa, depending on how things went.

They walked over to the tent. Some of the amazons were on duty here, but not a lot.

They had portable scanners they were using to check their patients for any signs of

life other than their heartbeats and breathing.

“How does she look, Kenda?,” asked Massa. She indicated the sleeping woman.

“She’s like the rest, sleeping with no end in sight,” said the amazon. She handed

Massa the portable scanner. The readings showed a coma with a sleeping brain.

“All right,” said Josie. She frowned at her patient. “Massa, go back and get ready

to catch sleeping beauty here. Get Vin and Markus to help you when she arrives. I

will follow right after and we’ll see if we can snap her out of this.”

“She’s going to be bed ridden for the next few days if we can wake her up,” said

Massa.

“It’s the best we can do,” said Josie. “I hope I killed whomever was responsible for

this.”

“Give me five minutes to get back to the hospital and get to the room,” said Massa.

“Then we’ll try to catch her when she gets there.”

“All right,” said Josie. She watched the timer on her watch tick down. “Leave the tent

up until we’re sure this woman won’t be coming back here.”

“Do you think you can fix her?,” asked Kendra.

“I don’t know,” said Josie. “I want to, but what happens if we can’t? We might not

be able to wake any of them up if we can’t figure out how we failed this first try.”

“I understand,” said the amazon.

“Time is almost up,” said Josie. “Massa and the adventurers have to be ready on their

end by now.”

“Give them a couple more minutes,” said Kendra. “It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Josie nodded. A few extra minutes meant little at the moment. Once things were

rolling, then she would need to move faster.

She nodded when the time ran out. She changed into Zatanna and sent out two birds,

one after the other. When the first bird reached the hospital, the woman on the pad

of blankets vanished. When the second one reached its destination, she stood in a

hall, hurrying to where she could hear Massa making demands. She let the persona

go.

Josie pushed open the door. Vin and Markus carried their sleeper between them. They

worked to lower her on a bed. Massa and a nurse stood out of the way.

“Not there,” said Josie. She pointed at the bathroom to one side. “Take her into the

bathroom.”

“Get one of the elixir pills,” Massa told her junior. The amazon left to go down to the

machine Jack had built. “This is going to be messy.”

“Messy?,” said Vin. “I didn’t sign up for anything messy.”

“You signed up to do my bidding until you die,” said Josie. “Let’s get her sitting on

the toilet. I should have thought about a shower pad for this, but I didn’t.”

“I don’t remember dying in my paperwork,” said Vin.

The four of them got the woman propped up on the toilet. Massa held her upright.

“It’s right there under you are my minion until I release you, or you are killed by an

enemy while following my commands,” said Josie. “How long will Jack’s pill take

once she has it in her?”

“The reaction will be almost immediate,” said Massa. “I have no idea how long it will

take for her flush everything.”

“Hand me the box on the wall, Markus,” said Josie. “We have to make sure nothing

bad happens when we give her the medicine.”

Markus took three strides from the small room to the bed. He pulled the scanner from

its holder and brought it back into the bathroom. He handed it over and stepped back

outside.

“I have the pill and some water,” said the nurse, coming back into the room.

“Hold her upright, Vin,” said Josie. “Markus, we’re going to need you to help Vin.

Massa, take the scanner. What’s your name?”

“Serni,” said the amazon.

“Let’s shift around so Markus and Vin are holding our girl upright,” said Josie.

“Massa, watch the scanner and let us know if anything changes. Serni, you are going

to have to give her the pill and pour the water down her throat so she swallows it. I

am going to see how much I can speed things up with magic. Everybody ready?”

She nodded back at the nods of agreement everyone gave her.

“Go ahead, Serni,” said Josie. She reached for her watch as the nurse pushed a quarter

of the pill into the sleeper’s mouth, and then poured water slowly in after it.

Josie became Doctor Occult in her green scrubs, and hair cover. She raised her hands

and activated the scan and let it reach out to the sleeper. She watched as the spines

along the nervous system and brain starting cracking. Small pieces fell into the blood

and flowed out and away from the woman’s spine.

She reached in and started chipping at the block with her ability.